Matthew Wayne Selznick

Previously: Alex Kent got a job! Lina Porter told her parents she broke up with Eric Finn. Not!

“Boy / Girl”
Lina Porter and Claire Glick lay on on the floor in Claire’s living room, propped up on their elbows, their respective high schools yearbooks open between them.

“What about this guy?” Lina followed Claire’s finger to a color picture of a senior (all the senior pictures were in color; everyone else rated only black and white.) He wore a suit on picture day, which Lina thought was a little presumptuous. His skin was pale beneath side-parted dark hair, brown eyes and bushy black eyebrows.

“You think he’s cute..?”

“Well… I don’t know.” Claire’s lips twisted. “He’s got nice eyes.”

“Nice suit, too,” Lina teased.

“Yeah… I know,” Claire conceded. “Your turn.”
“Okay.” Lina flipped through the yearbook. There were reasons she ended up with someone who didn’t go to O’Neil High; someone who had already graduated. These boys…

“Lemme see…”

Claire bumped Lina’s shoulder with her own. “Eric’s not in there, loser.”

Lina laughed. “Thanks, bitch. I totally didn’t know.” She wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out. “Fine.” She jabbed a picture with her finger. “What about him?”

Lina chose a kid whose wardrobe choice for picture day was a rumpled striped dress shirt with most of the buttons undone. His blonde hair was sloppily spiked, he wore eyeliner and his smile was completely confident.

Lina saw her friend’s eyes widen. “That is totally unfair.”

“What?”

“Don’t you remember him from junior high? Fuck me sideways.” Lina smiled at her friend’s latest favorite curse as Claire shook her head. “I bet he doesn’t drag that backpack full of Dungeons and Dragons books around any more, does he?”

“Yeah, no, I don’t think so. I forgot about that. You think he’s cute?”

“Totally unfair. Totally unfair. Does he like you?”

Lina chuckled. “We don’t really hang out.”

“Lame! I mean, he’s right there…”

“Your turn.” Lina yanked her yearbook out from under Claire’s nose. “You’re getting it all drooly.”

“Fine.” It didn’t take Claire long to find the next candidate. “This one’s totally unfair, too. Mega.”

Lina looked. Long straight dark hair that flowed past the shoulders of a light tee-shirt. Gentle eyes. Full lips hinting at an uncertain smile.

“You confuse me,” she said. “This is your next choice after mister suit?”

“That was just a warm up. This… this is the real deal.”

Still not really Lina’s thing, but she could see the appeal. This guy looked like he was actually really nice, and maybe a little bit like he needed someone to take care of him. “So… why’s it unfair? Does he have girlfriend?”

Claire sighed. “He never will. That’s what’s so wrong.”

“You mean..?”

Claire probably didn’t know she was making goo-goo eyes at the picture. She sighed again. “Totally, totally gay.”

Lina giggled. “Aw, honey…”

“Yeah. I’m a lost cause.”

“Well… at least he’ll never break your heart.”

“He’s alive and he will never, ever, ever go out with me,” Claire moaned with exaggerated drama. “He breaks my heart every minute of every day.” She dropped her forehead to the book and jerked her shoulders. “Waaaaah!”

“Lemme guess,” Lina drawled. “You guys met in drama class.”

Claire’s head popped up. “Well, duh.” She resumed flipping; performance over.

Lina stopped her. “Who’s that?”

“These are the freshmen, Lina. As if.”

“No, seriously… what’s up with that one?”

“You mean the way he looks? Some bone thing he was born with. He hangs out with my friend Mel; they’re nerdy to the max, but they’re cool.” Claire closed her yearbook firmly and sat up. “I don’t think we’re going to find you a new boyfriend this way.”

The tiny picture of the strange boy lingered in Lina’s mind. She focused.

“Wait. Is that what we’re doing? Besides, don’t I have a boyfriend?”

“Oh, do you?” Claire frowned. “He’s creepy, Lina; I swear to god. And you told your parents you broke up with him, anyway.”

“I only did that so I wouldn’t be grounded.”

Claire pointed a finger. “But he is creepy! You don’t deny it! Ha!”

“He’s not creepy.”

“He worships the devil.”

“He does not!”

“He tried to get you drunk so you would suck his cock.”

Lina couldn’t deny that, but the sight of Claire nodding her head and saying, “Yep. Yep. Uh huh! Yep,” was too irritating for life.

“I wanted to get drunk! Besides, he didn’t force me, or anything.”

“Ugh!” Claire made an “L” with index finger and thumb and put it over Lina’s forehead. “He’s a Looo-zer, Lina. You could totally do better.”

“Oh, like falling for someone who doesn’t even like girls?”

Claire’s eyes narrowed over her smile and she shook her head slowly. “Oh, you are so gonna pay for that, bitch.”

Lina closed her own yearbook and sat up. She sighed. “So how could I do better, miss advice columnist?”

Claire got serious. “First things first. Break up with Eric Finn for reals and for true.”

“Why do you want me to break up with him so bad?”

“Honey, everyone wants you to break up with him. Wake up! Why isn’t he going with someone his own age? Why’s he have to go with a high school girl? L – O – S – E – R!”

Lina was so tired of everyone picking on Eric. Doubt nagged. Was that why she went out with him in the first place; because he was kind of an underdog? Or just to piss everyone off?

Damn it, she knew he was a dick. But…

Claire was doing the nodding thing again. “You know I’m right.” She got up and walked over to the telephone. “Do it. Be strong, woman! Rarrr!”

“No way. I’m totally not breaking up with him over the phone.”

“Ah ha! But you are breaking up with him!”

“I dunno…” Lina stood up. “I should see him. Talk to him. I don’t want to be a bitch.”

“Aren’t you going to that party thing on Friday with Car? Who you totally should be with, by the way. Duh.”

“Car? We’re just friends.” Lina couldn’t help but think of the very brief time in eighth grade when that was not quite the whole story. She shook her head. “We’re good friends. That’s it. Are you going?”

“Bizzaro girl,” Claire muttered, then said, “I can’t. I promised my sister I’d go see… gag… Pink Floyd with her. Whatever. See if devil-boy’s going to be there. You can tell him then.”

Whether or not she broke up with Eric, the party would be the perfect excuse to see him without her parents knowing about it. And if she did go through with it, they wouldn’t be alone.

The fact that she automatically took that into account confused and frustrated her. She crossed the living room to Claire.

“Fine. Give me the phone.”

Alex slept in. Alex lounged around. Alex worked on his painting. Alex watched daytime television. Alex noodled on his guitar. Alex read.

In other words, Alex spent the third day of summer like it really was summer vacation. He could do this and his father could say nothing. Alex had a job.

Granted, the idea of working at Hagar’s made him cringe every time he thought about it and the countdown to his first day felt like a walk down death row. But it was a job, and it didn’t have to be his last job. Once he had a little money, his driver’s license and the car in the driveway was officially his, he would find something… anything… else.

Eight days to go… eight days until polyester shirts and a hair net.

It would be worth it.

The phone rang. Alex lurched off of the sofa and picked it up. “Yeah-lo.”

“Is this Alex?”

He’d never heard this voice over the phone before, but he recognized it instantly. “Heather?” He grinned.

“Yeah! Hi! I hope you don’t mind that I called. I was just on my break and…”

“God, no, I don’t mind! I was gonna try you tonight; figured you’d be at work…” Did she think he wasn’t interested because she had to call first? He could have at least left a message… crap…

“No, that’s totally okay; I am at work,” she laughed, “so you figured right. I’m just on my ten minutes and so…”

“And so you called me! I’m glad. How are you?”

She had a throaty laugh, with a lot of breath behind it. “Rested, finally. I went to bed as soon as I got home from work yesterday; slept straight through to this morning.”

“Wow. Sorry if yesterday was rough for you…”

“Not even. I… it was totally worth it.”

That gave him a little thrill. “For me, too. That was… it was totally new for me.”

“Me too.”

They found themselves in a little eddy of uncomfortable silence. Alex shooed his butterflies and said, “So… we should, um, have a real date.”

“Yes!”

“Um… What about Friday?”

“Yes again.” Laughter.

“Damn, you’re too easy!” Alex winced. “I mean, not easy… I mean…”

“I know, I know! Are you… nervous?”

Hell yes. “I guess so. A little. I mean, we spent a whole night baring our souls to each other, but talking on the phone, it seems…”

“I know. It’s weird.”

“Yeah.”

Another silence threatened. This time Heather beat it off. “So let’s go see a movie.”

“That works!”

“How about that one with the guys from Saturday Night Live; the one with the blobby things..?”

Recognition clicked for Alex. “Ghostbusters? Yeah, I think it opens that day. That sounds like fun.”

“Fun is good.”

“Fun is good. See that? We’re in sync.”

Heather chuckled. “I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Before Alex could explore the subtext there, the phone clicked.

“Damn… I’ve got a call coming through. Do you…”

“Oh, it’s cool… I should probably get back to work, anyway. Call me on Friday afternoon with the times and stuff… I mean, you can call me before, if you want, but…”

“I will! Hey!”

“Hm?”

“I’m glad you called!”

“Me too!”

They said their goodbyes and Alex tapped the hook to switch over to the other line. “Hello?”

“Alex! Hey!”

Alex was surprised at how quickly his up mood flattened at the sound of Angel’s voice. “Oh… hey.”

“I haven’t heard a peep from you since you came by Monday, my friend.” She sounded cheery. “What’s up?”

“Nothing.” Talking with Angel was like a conversation with the anti-Heather. He should have ignored the call waiting, even if Heather did have to go back to work.

He could tell Angel picked up the vibe. “Oh. I just haven’t heard from you…”

“I’ve been busy. Trying to find a job.”

“How’s that going? Any luck?”

“I got one.”

“Um… okay. You gonna make me play twenty questions?”

Alex blurted one of his own. “How’s Mike?”

Angel’s voice was level. “Okay. He’s kind of a trip.”

“Really.”

“Is something wrong? Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. Just busy.”

Angel didn’t say anything. Unlike the silences with Heather a few minutes before, this wasn’t awkward for Alex. On the contrary, it was coldly satisfying to know Angel was floundering.

“Hello…?” she said.

“Yeah. I’m still here.”

“I… I guess I thought you’d tell me what was keeping you busy.” She sounded hurt and confused. “You know. Like a friend does.”

“Sorry. I probably should go.”

“Yeah.” Full-on irritation now. “You should. Talk to you whenever, Alex.”

“Later.”

Alex hung up. He realized he was seething.

He also recognized that Angel probably thought he was a full-on asshole. If she didn’t understand…

Alex shook his head. If she didn’t understand, she was blind. How obvious could he be, riding his bike all the way to her freaking house just to see her? When had he ever done that before? Didn’t she get that it meant something?

Whatever. He had a date with Heather, a girl he’d known for a cumulative total of less than twelve hours that felt like twelve years. Let Angel have her surfer jock. Alex knew it wouldn’t last.

The phone rang again. Angel..?

“Hello?”

A man’s voice; relaxed, with a slight drawl. “Hi, can I talk to Alex Kent?”

“This is Alex.”

“Alex, this is Sam Martin, manager of the video department at Pinnacle Records. Do you think you could come in for an interview this week?”
…to be continued!

Be sure to leave your comments on this installment!

Support “Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights”

This ongoing serial fiction series is free to read, but takes a lot of time and work to create. If you enjoy “Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights,” I’d like you to become my patron by compensating me for the experience.

One-Time Contribution

I think $0.99 is reasonable for a single installment of the serial, but feel free to contribute whatever amount you think is appropriate.

Recurring Contribution

New installments of “Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights” post twenty five times a year. If you’d like to provide regular support for my ongoing efforts to write the serial, please consider contributing on a automatically recurring monthly basis. I recommend $1.49 per month, but feel free to make your monthly contribution whatever amount you think “Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights” is worth.

Music, Books and Movies From This Installment

When you purchase the books, movies or music mentioned in this installment of “Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights” from Amazon.com, I receive a very small commission (about 4% in most cases) that does not affect the price of the item. In fact, I will benefit from any purchase you make when you visit Amazon.com from the links below, so feel free to have a shopping spree to support “Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights!”